In counseling with many Christians, one of the strongholds I often come up against is bitterness. I heard a story about a woman who caught her husband with another woman. Although he begged for forgiveness she said no way! She filed for divorce. Her children begged her not to, but she wanted to get back at her husband so bad. Two years later he was still trying to get her back, but she wanted no part of it. He finally gave up and married a young widow with two children and rebuilt his life without her. The new couple was so happy and yet the woman was so lonely and miserable. She let bitterness ruin her life.
There’s no questions that infidelity is wrong. But without forgiveness, bitterness is all that is left. There comes a point when anger is no longer just an emotion-it’s a driving force. Like a drug, you need more and more. Once that happens. you move further from forgiveness, because without your anger you’ve no source of energy at all. That is no way to live this precious life God has given us.
God says.”Forgive anyone who does you wrong…as Christ has forgiven you,” because bitterness is fatal. It kills your soul. So how do you keep yourself from becoming bitter when you’ve been hurt? By looking into the face of the one who hurt you, and instead, seeing the face of the One who showed you mercy when nobody else would’ve given you a second chance. Let go today and forgive!
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